Last updated: October 10, 2024
Place
Oak Ridge Wayside: Happy Valley
NPS
Quick Facts
Amenities
2 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto
Subtitle
A Growing Community
Main Text
In May 1943, Manhattan Project administrators awarded J.A. Jones Construction Company, a contract to construct the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant. To construct the 44-acre building and support structures, a large on-site construction force was needed to lessen travel time for the thousands of workers. By June 1943, construction began on a housing camp in Happy Valley, 10 miles southwest of Oak Ridge. This “mini-community” started as 450 hutments and several cafeterias, but as construction progressed so did the workforce housing demands. An assortment of 900 trailers, multiple dormitories, army barracks, and Victory Houses developed along the turnpike. With a larger workforce, support infrastructure soon followed including a school, shopping center, recreation center, theater, and bowling alley. Eventually Happy Valley housed nearly 15,000 people by 1945. Whereas white workers had multiple housing options and community amenities, there was a segregated construction camp of hutments for African American workers which operated under ever-present Jim Crow laws.
Photo text: Motorists fueling up while discussing the day’s news at Happy Valley Service Station, 1943
Exhibit Panel Description
A black framed wayside features a black and white photo of a gas station with two cars, one motorcycle, and several people standing at the front of the building. A sign on the gas station reads “Happy Valley Service Station.” The text on the panel is located at the bottom portion.
Visit This Exhibit Panel
This wayside is located at the K-25 Overlook in Roane County, TN, along the Oak Ridge Turnpike opposite the K-25 site.
A Growing Community
Main Text
In May 1943, Manhattan Project administrators awarded J.A. Jones Construction Company, a contract to construct the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant. To construct the 44-acre building and support structures, a large on-site construction force was needed to lessen travel time for the thousands of workers. By June 1943, construction began on a housing camp in Happy Valley, 10 miles southwest of Oak Ridge. This “mini-community” started as 450 hutments and several cafeterias, but as construction progressed so did the workforce housing demands. An assortment of 900 trailers, multiple dormitories, army barracks, and Victory Houses developed along the turnpike. With a larger workforce, support infrastructure soon followed including a school, shopping center, recreation center, theater, and bowling alley. Eventually Happy Valley housed nearly 15,000 people by 1945. Whereas white workers had multiple housing options and community amenities, there was a segregated construction camp of hutments for African American workers which operated under ever-present Jim Crow laws.
Photo text: Motorists fueling up while discussing the day’s news at Happy Valley Service Station, 1943
Exhibit Panel Description
A black framed wayside features a black and white photo of a gas station with two cars, one motorcycle, and several people standing at the front of the building. A sign on the gas station reads “Happy Valley Service Station.” The text on the panel is located at the bottom portion.
Visit This Exhibit Panel
This wayside is located at the K-25 Overlook in Roane County, TN, along the Oak Ridge Turnpike opposite the K-25 site.